Massage - The Importance of Touch

Touch is one of the human's five senses. Each of the five senses are extremely important not only for allowing us to make cognitive connections with the world, but for providing us with a rich emotional life.

Sensations and emotions define us as individuals and make us unique. They allow us to live life to its fullest. We are all born with a natural need for physical contact. Touch is extremely important to our physical and emotional health and well-being. Studies have shown that touch therapy, including massage, contributes to a healthy weight gain, enhanced growth and social development in infants. The newborn has the same need for touch as for food. In the same way the adults need it whether they acknowledge it or not.

In fact touch is more than a way to stay healthy it is a way of communication. The speech is not our only way of communication as we might think. We also communicate through signs, (visually), through touch, even through odors, (the chemical reactions in our body tell other people more than we talk). Touch, in fact, is our first language, the language of the newborn and it can be more informative than verbal communication because it expresses information that can't be communicated any other way.

It has been discovered that after prolonged physical contact such as a massage, the hypothalamic area of the brain experiences a reduction of activity, decreasing the body's level of stress hormones, and increasing the level of endorphins.

Some scientists suggest that human beings need a few hugs a day for a healthy life. Our society has developed a negative reaction to touch. Touch is considered an invasion in our privacy and it is banned from our life. We associate too often physical touch with sex. Touch is not only sexual. European cultures have kept a healthier level of touch interaction. They shake hands more often, they hug and kiss more often.

If you want to fulfill your need for touch go get a massage. Start now, by removing rational barriers or prejudice, and pass on to other people your experience.

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Dorian is a Complementary Medicine therapist who is involved in promoting touch as a life changing instrument. He is contributing with articles at http://www.head-massage.net.
You can also check an online Massage Manual, part of the promotional campaign at: http://www.head-massage.net/manuals/.

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